The Mulder and scully Files: Little Blue Box
by blossomofsnow65
Summary: After William's born, a little blue box tries to find its way into Mulder and Scully's lives. AU.


**October 2001**

It took Scully two hours for William to finally fall asleep. Mulder had offered to help, but the baby cried harder when he was taken away from his mother's shoulder. She had tried everything: feeding him, changing him, playing with him, but nothing worked. He was teething though and the gel that used to work before didn't seem to work tonight. They tried using the teething ring, yet every time he grabbed the handle he'd throw it as far as he could, often landing on Mulder's head or loudly on the kitchen counter - which would startle the baby and result in an even more loud crying fit.

Mulder once suggested rubbing his gums with a little bit of whiskey - something that Mrs. Scully had confidently confessed to him she did with her kids when they were teething -, but Scully glared at him and Mulder knew better than to keep on suggesting it; it just wasn't worth the fight. Tonight, however, Scully was willing to do anything. Anything to get her baby to sleep.

As if he was reading her mind - and knew her intentions -, William fell asleep. Quickly and quietly, she took him to the nursery and placed him in his crib.

"Baby's asleep, finally. I was seriously considering your whiskey thing, the crying was driving me crazy." Scully said walking into the room.

Mulder was propped up against the headboard reading a magazine intently. "Mulder? Did you hear what I just said?" Scully asked with her hands on her hips.

"Hmm? Oh, I'm sorry, Scully. I'm almost deaf from all the crying," he replied jokingly, his eyes never leaving the silky pages.

"Shut up, Mulder. He's teething and in pain, the crying is normal. Although I wish his fist was enough to calm the pain." Scully was leaning against the dresser as Mulder continued to focus his attention on the magazine rather than on what she was saying. Curiously, and annoyed, she walked up to him and took a peek at what he couldn't stop reading long enough to talk to her.

"Mulder what are you doing? Why are you looking at rings?"

Mulder's head snapped and looked at her. "Oh, um... it's for an X-File."

"What kind of X-File could have possibly landed on your desk that required that you get acquainted with rings?" Scully asked in amusement. Mulder could be a lot of things, and a lot of strange X-Files have landed on their desks, but never in a million years would she have imagined an X-File that involved engagement rings.

"Some freaky deaky wedding case. A ring is missing from the girl and we're trying to match the description her fiancé gave us of the ring to one that's on this magazine."

"Well, couldn't he show you the ring and save you the research?"

"He could... were it not for the fact the he was found dead right after he gave us the description and the name of the magazine. We're hoping that the ring has the fingerprints of our lead suspect." Mulder informed.

"Oh. Well, that one's nice." Scully pointed to an engagement ring just as William started to cry again. She took in a sharp breath and closed her eyes.

As she was heading towards the nursery, Mulder amused, "want me to get the whiskey?"

"Yeah. But for me." She yelled from the baby's room.

Mulder laughed as he shut the magazine and threw it in the trash. Scully had given him the information that he needed. His work was done.

**January 2002**

William's first fever came as a surprise to everyone. Scully wouldn't leave his side, even though Mulder insisted on taking shifts while she went about her day.

"Mulder, our son is sick. I'm not leaving his side until I'm sure he's okay." She'd said. As with the teething, Mulder wasn't going to fight with her while she was at such a vulnerable a state. Instead, he helped Scully by doing what she did any other day, and by helping her with William whenever she let him. It was something that bothered him - Scully not letting him help his son while he was sick -, but he was just as worried as she was, and Scully was a medical doctor, she knew what she was doing and what to do in case of an emergency.

When William recovered, Mrs. Scully insisted they should go out to dinner. Scully hesitated, but was later convinced. Mulder was looking forward to it – even more than any other date night with Scully. He was anxious, nervous and totally in love. When he arrived to Scully's apartment – their apartment, he had to remind himself -, it was quiet; almost too quiet.

"Scully?" Mulder called out. "I just dropped William off at your mother's, she said she'd bring him here tomorrow at 10." Still no answer. He left the flowers he had bought on the kitchen table and headed to the bedroom. Then, he heard her heaving in the bathroom.

"Oh, Scully."

"I'm fine, Mulder. It's just something I ate earlier that tasted funny. Give me five minutes and I'll be ready." He stood by the door and started to walk towards her, but Scully turned her head and it was very clear that date night was cancelled. Her hair was sweaty, she had vomit on her chin and she emptied her stomach once again shortly after she finished talking.

"Scully, I think you have the stomach flu. Come on, let's get you to bed and I'll take care of you."

Mulder made sure Scully was comfortable: he placed warm washcloths on her forehead, kept a bowl next to her on her nightstand and chastised her when she insisted on going out. He also called Mrs. Scully and asked her if she minded taking care of William for one more day, to which she gladly accepted. He walked back into the bedroom to let Scully know about the change of plans, but he found her asleep. Date night will have to wait for a few days.

**March 2002**

"Damn it, Mulder! Just for two hours, can't you be home for two hours? I feel as if I haven't seen you all week." Scully yelled and pleaded. Mulder had been working on an X-File for the past week and she felt as if he had relapsed into what their life was before William: working a case 24/7 until it was solved.

"I'm sorry, Scully. But they need me in this one more than anything!" Mulder reasoned back, putting his hands up as if he were surrendering to something.

"_I_ need you! I need you here, Mulder. William needs you here! I'm going crazy raising our child on my own while you're out there chasing little green men and only coming home for a shower; and that is if you come home at all!"

"_You_ need me here?! Come on, Scully. Every time I try to help you, you push me away. When William was sick I was barely allowed to touch him; when he was teething I wasn't allowed to rub the fucking gel on his gums. So now you're saying you need me? Face it, Scully. You're already raising our child on your own." Mulder snapped. He immediately regretted saying what he said – which he didn't mean and knew that a simple talk would've done to clear things out – because Scully's face changed from angry to hurt to angry again.

He regretted it completely when she spat, "fuck you, Mulder. Get out of here. Go chase little green men all you want. Get out and fuck off."

The baby started to cry and she went to the nursery. Mulder stood in place, hurt and surprised. Tears started to fall as he turned around and left with the little blue box in his pocket.

April 2002

_Scully. Please, call me. I miss you and I miss William. I can't live without you two, I love you more than anything. You're my family._

_Please. Please, call me._

**May 2002**

"Are you going to invite Fox?" Mrs. Scully asked.

"I guess so. I mean, he's his father and I know that he'll never forgive me if I don't invite him to his son's first birthday. I might hate him right now, but I can't do that to him." Scully took a sip of her tea. Her Mom invited her to her house for a mother-daughter afternoon which basically turned out to be a 'let's talk about Mulder while eating cookies and drinking tea' afternoon.

"Dana. He's miserable. I've seen him, and he's a mess. You have to talk to him."

"I know. It's just… he said some hurtful things; and what hurts the most is that they're true. I was neglecting him from raising our son and I don't know why. For protection? He can be protected by both of us, not just me. But he went right back to what he was before: a workaholic. He worked nonstop and it wasn't just that week. There were days he'd sleep in his office or crash at Doggett's because they had stayed up late working on a case. I got tired of waiting for him at dinner time wearing a tight as fuck dress and having a romantic dinner in the oven. I started to hate the smell of blown out candles which I used to love. I couldn't live like that anymore." Scully confessed crying. Mrs. Scully reached out for her hand and sat closer to her.

"Listen, honey. I know you're in pain. But you have to tell Mulder how you feel, not just me. I can't repair your relationship. The only thing he knows happened was that argument, not the other things you just told me."

Scully nodded. "Dana, call him. I'm not saying you should get back together right away, but I think you should talk before William's birthday. For your sake and for your son's sake." As if on cue, William started crying and Scully jumped out of her seat to attend her son and end the conversation.

Xxxxx

Mulder didn't do much these days. He'd just stay at his apartment – which he hadn't sold yet – and drink. Watch TV, bounce a basketball. Anything to keep him from thinking of his family.

He was dozing off when his cell phone rang. He answered as he groaned while rubbing his eyes, "Mulder." Silence. "Hello?"

"Mulder? It's me." Scully replied in a small voice. Mulder sat up so quickly that it made him dizzy. He didn't realise that he wasn't talking until Scully spoke again, "Mulder? Are you there?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm here. What's up, Scully? I'm so glad you called." He said with a smile.

"Listen, I think we should talk. Can you meet me in thirty minutes at the coffee shop?" Scully avoided his question getting right to the point. She seemed agitated and as if she had been crying. He knew her so well.

"I'll see you there."

Xxxxx

"Scully, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have said those things, I didn't mean any of them. I just felt so frustrated because I never saw you and the case was driving me crazy…"

"Mulder, it's fine, " Scully calmed his rant as she placed a hand on top of his, "it's my fault too. So many things were going on behind the scenes that you didn't know. I felt neglected by you, maybe even replaced. We should've sat down and talked like the rational human beings that we are, but instead we let it escalate quickly. I'm sorry, Mulder." Scully apologised. Mulder was taken aback by this, convinced that he had to be the one on his knees begging for mercy.

"Oh, Scully. I had no idea how you felt. I guess we sort of suck sometimes." Scully chuckled and raised her brows in agreement.

"So, where are you staying?" Scully asked as the waitress brought their food.

"My apartment."

"But you haven't been to your apartment in two months."

Mulder eyed her, confused. Suddenly it dawned on him, "Scully, are you asking me to come back?"

Scully rolled her eyes. "Boy, you're slow." She laughed and Mulder felt like crying.

**September 2002**

The night of the postponed dinner date arrived and Scully made sure that everything she ate wasn't expired. She wore a tight black dress – the one that blew Mulder's mind – and a pair of earrings he gave her for her birthday. Mulder wore his best suit.

Mulder had planned it all perfectly. Nothing could go wrong. Dinner, dessert, champagne, ring and making out in the car. That is, of course, until he padded his jacket and the little blue box wasn't there.

"Shit," he muttered. Wrong suit.

**December 2002**

William couldn't care less of his first Christmas, but this year was different. He was more aware of the things that where happening around him and even more aware of all the gifts he was receiving. Grandma Maggie spared no expense when it came to her grandson.

They had Christmas lunch at Mrs. Scully's – a delicious turkey -, Bill and Mulder hadn't fought, and Matty played with William. Everything went smoothly.

At 6pm they said their goodbyes and returned to their apartment with a sleepy William on Mulder's arms. Too much toys and ice cream for the day.

When they got home, William was out like a light and didn't even wake up when Mulder changed him into his pyjamas and laid him on the bed, giving him a kiss on the forehead.

"Still asleep?" Scully asked once Mulder entered the room. She was sitting on the bed while rubbing cream on her hands.

"Yup. He is out like a light." He approached her and she smiled. She had that look in her eye that he knew very well – he was getting lucky tonight. He hopped in on his side and kissed Scully. With each passing minute, he kissed her deeper and more intense than ever.

Scully started to take off his shirt when he stopped to look at her. She gazed at him and smiled contently.

"Hey, Scully," he whispered close to her face, "will you marry me?"

Scully didn't even flinch at the question. She just smiled and kissed him. Against his lips she replied, "what took you so long, Mulder?"

"Is that a yes?" Mulder pulled away to see if she was teasing him.

"Yes, Mulder. Of course, I'll marry you." She rolled her eyes.

Mulder beamed and kissed her again. But now it wasn't with lust. It was a soft kiss, filled with love. She kissed him back and pulled away, grabbing his jaw.

"Wait. Was this the reason why you were looking at engagement rings?"

Mulder chuckled and bowed his head in embarrassment. "Yeah. Turns out I'm not the only one who's slow."

"Well, you did wait almost a year to propose, so…" Scully remarked and Mulder shrugged. "Now, where were we?" They were about to continue with their on hold activity when they heard William call for Scully. They groaned.

"That's your cue, Mama." Mulder rubbed her back gently and rolled back to his side.

Scully sighed as she got up and walked towards William's room.

"Hurry back. I still have a ring to give you." Mulder let out. Scully's pace quickened and he laughed.

Mulder heard Scully talking to William, trying to get him to go back to sleep. He stood up and headed towards the closet and took out the little blue box from the suit it was hidden in. He walked back to the bed and placed it on Scully's pillow.

Turns out that he didn't need to plan everything perfectly to get Scully to agree to marry him. Turns out that they're not perfect and that they will meet obstacles in their way. But they're going to overcome them together. _Together_. Him and his _wife_.


End file.
